I want to keep control of my comments on my server, not outsource them (maybe I’m being silly about this, but well)

I don’t want people commenting to be able to delete or edit their comments after publishing them, because it potentially can wreak havoc in the discussion thread if people aren’t careful about it. OK for cosmetic or “15 minutes after” modifications, but not 1 week later.

The WordPress plugin announces “Auto-sync of comments with Disqus and WordPress database”. Sounds good. Time to try Disqus here on CTTS.

First, I had to claim my blog withing Disqus. Failing to do that resulted in a bunch of server errors when I tried to follow the link to integrate Disqus into my blog (seems they are using the same unfortunate vocabulary coComment chose ages ago). Well, Climb to the Stars is now claimed, and has a community page on Disqus.

I finally found out how to download the plugin (it would be nice to make it available through the WordPress Plugin Directory, guys) and installed it, after backing up my database (daring, but not completely dare-devil).

I didn’t bump into any problems installing it, all went smoothly. I’m just a bit perplexed by this:

Will Disqus put new comments into my WordPress database too? It seemed to me that it would do that (“Autosync”) but now I’m not so sure anymore.

I’m not too happy about how trackbacks are being treated on the community page for CTTS:

I know my implementation of “similar posts” messes up the trackback/pingback excerpts, but at least WordPress puts everything on one line. Note also the encoding issues. (I hope the problem is on Disqus’ end, and that I’m not back in encoding hell once again — in my opinion, though, Disqus should be able to deal with any encoding thrown at it.)

I’m also wondering how Disqus and Akismet play together (not to mention Bad Behavior). Can anybody shed some light on that?

At the moment, I’m waiting to see if all my existing comments are getting imported or not (things seems stuck at roughly a week back). I’m also waiting to see what happens with new comments (do they go into my WP database? do they have encoding problems? can people edit them 1 week after commenting?)

The encoding issue is a showstopper (either Disqus fix it, or if it’s on my end, it means I need to go back into encoding hell, and there is no way I’m doing that before October. The “edit comments 1 week later” issue is also a showstopper — I imagine there should be a way for the blog owner to prevent this, but I haven’t found anything in the Disqus admin.

So, I’m leaving the plugin in for a little while, but chances are I’ll have to remove it.

there’s a lot of work to be done during this last month; if you’re in Leeds or around and want to give a hand (pre-conference drinks, party organisation, putting together a little Leeds tourist guide, choosing the lunch buffet menu, filming the sessions or just general helping out), please get in touch; it’ll be much appreciated.

This is a sad day. Twitter has just lost some of its value for me. One very precious feature of Twitter is direct messages. They allow a user to send a private message to another user.

I used to get these messages on my phone, directly by SMS. So, basically, this is giving the nearly 1’500 people following me the possibility to send me a text message without having to know my phone number of have it handy. All they need to know is my username, which is easy: [stephtara](http://twitter.com/stephtara).

However, this means that as of today, DM is not an immediate and secure way to reach me anymore.

This is a big crack in my online/offline integration. Twitter allowed my online world to reel me back in or contact me if necessary by reaching me on my phone. This is pretty disruptive and saddening for me.

Twitter tell us they’ll be working on partnerships with phone companies in various countries. You bet Switzerland won’t be high on their list, given the small market here.

And using data? Well, for one, it isn’t “push”, and for two, it’s still mighty expensive here. We don’t all have the data penetration the US has.

Losing “track” was already sad for me, as it allowed me to receive my @replies on my phone, ensuring I didn’t miss any. Now I won’t even be getting my DMs anymore.

And Twitter didn’t even send me a text to let me know — I could be offline in the mountains waiting for a DM that’d never come.

This is the first time a Twitter problem could make me consider switching to another service. The SMS integration was a huge selling point.

Update: I’m not complaining about the fact we can’t get/send SMS for free anymore. I think we were lucky to get all we did, and for so long (I’m amazed this didn’t happen sooner). What I’m really unhappy about though is that this announcement comes without any alternative. I’d pay. See this blog post for an example I would go with. I’m not saying either that I’m going to switch to another service. But the thought crossed my mind, for the first time.

It’s back. The Urge. The Urge to quickly quickly quickly do this, do that, get on the computer in the morning, do this, finish that, OMG-I-wanted-to-do-it-3-days-ago, here’s my list for today, urgent, urgent, quickly deal with it.

What’s going on? Well, first, the Dip. Those of you who know what I’m talking about will know what I’m talking about. As for the others… well, hey, a little mystery here and there can’t hurt, can it, in this age of public people everywhere. So, the Dip is back, and Deadlines are coming up (I resisted the temptation to say “looming on the horizon” right there).

Actually, it’s not astonishing that I feel crunched. Stressed. Running. I’m trying to do more than one person’s work. So, no wonder I can’t keep up.

I’m also learning to not get my hopes up when people offer help. It’s sad to say, but often people are enthusiastic, come forward, and have second thoughts when it comes to actually taking the plunge.

I realised it’s cultural, too: very un-Swiss. I’m not saying there aren’t unreliable Swiss people, but here you expect people to be good to their word. Reliability is very much valued. When somebody says “I want to contribute”, you usually expect them to do so. It also means it’s pretty difficult to find people to say “I’m in”.

I’ve had a few disappointing experiences over the last 6-8 months. In my dark days, it feels like I just can’t rely on anybody — but that’s not true either.

I think it’s a combination of various factors. I’ve noticed amongst my more entrepreneur/Valley/less-risk-averse friends a tendency to talk about lots of projects or “things they’re going to do”, start many things, and then drop a lot, too. Not all that is spoken about happens. “Fail early, fail often.” Be creative with your ideas, talk about them around you, try them out, and let go of them if they don’t seem to catch.

All good.

But I’m not like that at all. I have ideas. I talk about them as “perhaps maybe at some point I might possibly eventually try to start doing this or that”. It’s very difficult for me to make the step to say “I’m going to do this/I’m doing this”. Because when I do, I’m married to the idea. It’s going to happen. Giving up is not an option. (I sometimes do, but it’s agonizing and horribly difficult.) Once I have my mind set on something, I have a really hard time letting go or seeing things differently.

It’s not all cultural.

It’s a mix. Some cultural, and some personal. In a more entrepreneur-oriented culture like the US, I guess you’ll find more people who start things easily, go for it, and turn to something else if it doesn’t work out. In a very cautious and risk-averse culture like Switzerland, well, you don’t bump into that many people with that profile. It’s only recently in my life (these last few years) that I’ve started meeting such people and counting them amongst my friends and network.

On a personal level, well, I’m particularly risk-averse, and (as NNT would say) particularly ill-equipped for dealing with probabilities. When somebody says they’ll do something for me, I know there’s a chance it’ll fall through, but I somehow can’t keep my emotions in line with that intellectual knowledge. I build whole worlds on the sand of people’s words, and forget that they are likely to crumble. When they do, it feels like everybody and everything is letting me down.

Another situation in my life where suffering less seems to depend on my ability to adjust my expectations.